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Zinc deficiency is a common problem in the community and has serious health effects. There are many ways to supplement zinc for the body from nutrition and functional foods. So how to add zinc in the daily diet?
1. Importance of Zinc for Health
Zinc is known to be an essential trace mineral for us. Zinc participates in glucose, protein and nucleic acid metabolism. When zinc deficiency, cells will slow to divide, thereby seriously affecting the growth and development of the body. Many studies have shown that zinc supplementation improves height in short children and helps in rapid weight gain in malnourished children.
Zinc enhances nutrient absorption, protein synthesis, cell division and helps increase appetite, so it is very important for children. In addition, zinc helps the body fight disease because it promotes immune cells to work more efficiently, healing wounds.
Zinc deficiency will lead to adverse effects on the development and function of most immune cells, making you more susceptible to bacterial infections, increasing the risk of acute diarrhea, respiratory infections,. .. In addition, zinc is necessary for the composition and activity of the male sex hormone testosterone.
Not only has a physical impact, zinc deficiency also has an adverse effect on the mind, it makes you irritable. The reason is that zinc helps transport calcium to the brain, which can affect nerves easily.
Zinc deficiency is usually caused by the following:
Diet high in starch and low in protein (although the total amount of zinc in the food is sufficient); Due to processing, zinc is lost; Because you have a medical condition such as an intestinal disease that makes it difficult to absorb zinc; Genetic diseases such as acrodematis that prevent the body from absorbing zinc; In addition, the cause of zinc deficiency is also due to the patient taking drugs such as long-term use of iron will interfere with the absorption of zinc...
See now: Zinc supplementation for a healthy immune system
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2. The body's absorption of zinc
Zinc is found in many foods, especially foods of animal origin. However, the absorption rate of zinc from food is only 33%, this process takes place mainly in the small intestine.
Zinc in plant-based foods is harder to absorb than animal zinc. Accordingly, a mostly plant-based diet high in phytate reduces zinc absorption. In contrast, when a diet rich in foods of animal origin and high in phytate was present, zinc absorption was increased. Thus, if you eat a lot of plant-based foods but lack animal foods, the body will be deficient in zinc.
With milk, the amount of zinc in cow's milk is more difficult to absorb than zinc in breast milk. Soy milk has a high phytate content, so the absorption of zinc is low.
When the stomach decreases secretion of gastric juice, but the food contains many inorganic substances and many phytates, the ability to absorb zinc is reduced. When the stomach secretes more gastric juice and the food contains enough vitamin C, the absorption of zinc increases.
Every day our body will excrete zinc through feces is 5-6mg, urine 0.5mg, sweat 1mg/liter. Due to sweating a lot, every day an athlete will lose 3mg more zinc, while competing loses 5-10mg zinc compared to the average person. This should be noticed, especially with children who do a lot of sports.
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3. Add zinc in your daily diet
The need for zinc in the daily diet for each age group is:
Children under 5 months: 2.8 mg/day. Children 6-11 months-2 years old: 4.1 mg/day. Children from 3-5 years old: 4.8 mg/day. Children 6-9 years old: 5.6 mg/day. 10-19 years old: about 7.2 mg/day for women and 8.6 mg/day for men. Accordingly, the zinc content in fortified foods is as follows:
Zinc is abundant in foods of animal origin such as oysters, clams, scallops, mussels and quite a lot in lean red meat (such as red meat). pork, beef, sheep), milk, eggs, coarse grains, cashews, pumpkin seeds and legumes (25-50mg/kg). Accordingly, the specific amount of zinc according to each stage is specifically listed as follows (10-25mg/kg). Fish, vegetables, green leafy vegetables and fruits also contain zinc but in low amounts. Plant-based foods often contain less zinc and have a lower biological value because of their difficulty in absorption. For infants, to get enough zinc, you should try to breastfeed your baby exclusively because zinc in breast milk is much easier to absorb than cow's milk. The amount of zinc present in breast milk in the first month is the highest at about 2-3mg/l, after 3 months, the amount of zinc gradually decreases to 0.9mg/l. The amount of zinc that a nursing woman will lose through milk during the first 3 months is estimated at 1.4mg/day. Therefore, breastfeeding women need to eat more zinc-rich foods to have enough for both mother and baby. During puberty, due to the rapid growth of the body, the need for zinc also skyrockets, increasing by about 0.5mg/day. Adult men are also subject to an adequate supply of zinc, because zinc is important in the production of semen. Up to 5mg of zinc is lost in one ejaculation. Zinc deficiency in men can lead to a decrease in sperm count and a decrease in the frequency of sexual intercourse. At the same time, frequent ejaculation can also lead to zinc deficiency. Even a small loss of zinc can lead to weight loss, decreased sex drive, and possibly infertility. However, not every single food that contains 1mg of zinc will be absorbed. Zinc absorption also depends on many other factors such as decreased gastric secretion, foods rich in inorganic iron, phytate can reduce zinc absorption. But that does not mean that you limit the use of foods rich in phytate because it is also essential for health. Instead, you should eat enough animal foods as they will help limit the above disadvantages of phytate-rich foods. In addition, to increase the absorption of zinc, take a vitamin C supplement.
Zinc has a very important role for the body, but nutritionists have emphasized the role of biological zinc of natural origin, easily absorbed in the body. Therefore, you should learn carefully so that the body can absorb the best amount of zinc.
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